Portland Mom’s Poster Helps Parents and Teachers Educate Kids on the ABCs of Racism, Literally (Watch)

*A mother in Portland, Ore. has designed a poster aimed at helping parents and teachers educate their children about racism.

Taimani Reed – a photographer, brand designer and illustrator – in June launched her project “A is for Ally,” a collection of art which focuses on the ABCs of acceptance and words associated with oppression.

“I just couldn’t figure out how to talk to my kids,” Reed told “Good Morning America.” “I was watching George Floyd yelling for his mama and my own kid was like, ‘Mama, what’s wrong?’ That was such an emotional moment. I didn’t want to tell him, ‘The world is horrible,’ but I also didn’t want him to grow up not knowing.”

Through her company, Emerald Creative, Reed has launched a line of alphabet posters and tote bags. Her best-seller is the “A is for Ally” poster, which attributes each letter of the alphabet to words like ally, Black, colonization, diversity, equality, fragility, gentrification and more. She decided on an ABC model since her 3-year-old and 1-year-old had been practicing the alphabet.

“I wanted to create something soft enough to talk about scary subjects,” Reed said.

 

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One of the most common questions in my inbox is, how do I talk to my kids about race? How do I talk to them about what’s going on without scaring them? I’ve gone through the emotions of this same process myself with my own boys & that’s why it was so important to me to create a resource for parents talking to kids about big things like race & activism & allyship. Snag the entire collection now & you’ll be first to know when our A is for Ally decks & books are available for order ?❤️?? #happyjuneteenth #blacklivesmatterart #blacklivesmatter

A post shared by Taimani | Creative Intuitive (@taimaniemeraldcreative) on Jun 19, 2020 at 6:32pm PDT

Reed further developed her concept by asking Portland-area teachers, principals and BIPOC (Black, indigenous and people of color) families what words they felt were important to include on the poster.

Watch her interview with local news outlet KOIN 6 below.

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